


Believe in Me

by kittencandyuchiha



Category: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: KuroFai Olympics, KuroFai Olympics 2020, M/M, Soulmate AU, Team Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:06:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25984852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittencandyuchiha/pseuds/kittencandyuchiha
Summary: It was hard not getting offended when your Soulmate thought you were a hallucination—But this was probably why his kind had gotten out of the changeling business years ago. Soulmate AU. 2020 Kuro Fai Olympics entry. Team angst.
Relationships: Fay D. Fluorite/Kurogane
Comments: 34
Kudos: 50





	1. Chapter 1

Fuck the stars.

Kurogane was not amused. He was so far from amused he was about two seconds from committing murder.

Destiny was fucking bullshit.

The Seelie and Unseelie courts—or whatever was left of it— read the stars on the night of a child’s birth to predict everything from who they would marry, the hardships of their lives all the way down to when they would die. 

Until recently, Kurogane had never had an issue with what the stars had foretold for him. 

Actually—as a little kid, he had been pretty fucking excited to grown up and meet the challenge head-on. That excitement only disappeared when that fucking witch priest had shown up to tell him he had to leave by the end of the week to do it.

With his mother on her deathbed, he really wasn’t in a _go-rescue-the-princess-and-save-the-day_ mood.

Except that the Princess was actually a Prince. Instead of needing to fight a dragon or rescue them from a tower, he had to brave the mortal realm, collect the changeling and bring him back to the Otherworld without being killed by Seelie court soldiers. 

He had been training his entire life for this. Drilling his body until he dropped to prepare for this. All because the fucking stars had matched him with this Prince from a dying house. 

Kurogane had never met him—had no clue what he was like—and fuck the stars, the bastard could have waited a few more weeks while he helped his mother.

Fucking stars.

Fucking Witch Priest.

He was in the process of stuffing clothing and weapons into a duffle when there was a knock on his bedroom door and he froze. 

“What?”

He didn’t receive an answer, but the door was pushed open and Kurogane relaxed a bit at the sight of his father—a serious look on his face and a mug in each hand. “Take a deep breath and have some tea, son.”

The older man stared his son down until he did just that. His pops had a temper as bad as his own—but he was much better at keeping his cool than Kurogane was. No one in their estate was happy that this exact moment was when he was being forced to leave…

Their entire household was in mourning.

Kurogane closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath—rolled his shoulders—and exhaled slowly as he accepted the cup.

“The entire house can hear you are throwing things around in here, you know?” Crimson eyes that matched his own scolded him as his pops sipped his tea before setting it down and making room on one of the chairs to sit so he could face his son.

“Sorry.” Kurogane wasn’t really, but he was not about to mouth off when he didn’t know when he would be allowed to see home again.

Humans no longer believed in their kind—but the mortal realm was not a safe place for Fae.

He might be crawling up the wall at the thought of not being home with his family during such a critical time—but there was a chance he would never return and kick the bucket before his mother, too.

No doubt that was his pops’ main concern…

Kurogane was pretty confident in his abilities to keep himself and the Prince safe and sound—but not confident enough to make an ass out of himself. This was just as hard on his parents as it was on himself, after all.

“Rage all you want. Timing sucks. But your mother wanted me to come to check on you, so here I am.” His father shrugged and Kurogane cursed again and sitting back on his bed, he ran a hand through his hair.

Fuck.

“I didn’t mean to worry her.” She needed her rest…

She had been bedridden for weeks now but had somehow pulled her strength together enough for the meeting with Yuuko, the Witch Priest, and even days later, she was paying for it. His parent’s rooms were only just up the hall from his own—and Kurogane felt like an idiot for not being more mindful.

He was just so fucking angry at how things were playing out.

“Mothers worry. That’s her job.” His old man shrugged again and Kurogane sighed.

This fucking sucked.

He just wanted her to rest and feel better. He didn’t want to find the fucking bastard the stars had paired him with. He didn’t care about any of that right now—he just wanted to be with his family.

A long silence fell between them. 

There wasn’t much to say. 

Kurogane just hoped that he could locate the changeling and bring him back to the Otherworld before he turned 16. As far as they knew, the prince remained more or less hidden from the Seelie assassins…

But that wasn’t a guarantee—their intel may very well be wrong. 

Bylaws deemed Fae innocent until the age of 16, but if the Seelie court were still out to eradicate the last remaining member of the Unseelie Royal Family, they would do it sooner rather than later.

They only had weeks to locate the Prince and move him into hiding here in the Otherworld. Here, he would be guarded and trained until he could defend himself and take his rightful position. The Prince had only been an infant when the Unseelie Court fell after the royal family had been slaughtered—he had been the sole survivor and was hidden in the human world as a changeling.

Only two or three members of the former Royal Guard were aware of the boy’s location in the Human Realm—one of them being a close family friend.

Bishamonten was a long time comrade and friend of his father’s—and he was to lead Kurogane and whoever was sent along with him to the Prince’s location. Even Kurogane’s own father had no idea where the boy was hidden or how dangerous it would be for his son to retrieve him.

“I think she would be more worried if you were quiet about how much you do not like the situation.” His father continued after it was obvious his son had nothing to say.

What was there to say, after all? Yeah—There was no way he was going to get through this without worrying his parents—He still didn’t like it.

This was not how he had pictured things playing out.

There was nothing he could do, though.

No one had the power to change the stars—and that just pissed him off.

The stars foretold that time was of the essence, so while Yuuko had only arrived at their home this morning, Kurogane was to leave before nightfall. Not much time to process—and hardly any time to say his goodbyes.

“Kendappa and Sohma are going with you for support.” His father offered after another short silence and Kurogane nodded.

It wasn’t like he didn’t get along with them. Sohma was one of his father’s wards—taken in after her family had died in the same attack as the royal family. Kendappa was his cousin—and she had been taken in by them for similar reasons.

They both were capable warriors and Kurogane had grown up chasing after them—all three of them being trained side by side by his father. He trusted them both with his life… but all three of them still got their asses handed to them when you pinned them against the members of the formal royal guard like his father or Bishamonten.

“You aren’t worried about us running into—”

“It’s all we can spare.” His father was the one to drop his gaze this time, and he sighed.

Fuck.

Well… At least that made a heck of a lot of sense… If something happened to his mother and the barriers protecting the city fell?

Then they were more or less fucked. They didn’t have the manpower to do anything more than close the city gates once they were discovered and wait things out until the Prince returned. Every fae counted and it wouldn’t matter if they retrieved the prince, if the city fell.

“We’ll bring him back safely.” Kurogane finished off his tea and set the cup on the bedside table before he started gathering things again to pack his bag.

This wasn’t the first time he had seen his pops struggle to tell him shit news—and there were so many things that could go wrong that he might need to be warned about… well, Kurogane just waited.

It wasn’t until every weapon had been polished and packed—his armor secured—and the tea had gone cold that he found out just how bad the elders were expecting things to go.

“Yuuko has agreed to help your mother as best she can, but we do not have much time. We have already started moving people out of the city in preparation for the spells to fail. Use your best judgment and keep yourself and the prince safe.”

A growl crept its way up Kurogane’s throat and his father nodded slowly in silent agreement.

“The elders are all in the city.” The prince was going to need their guidance. Kurogane could keep the bastard safe, but he couldn’t teach him the magics of his house. They would be little more than misplaced teenagers with targets on their backs.

“If the city is not safe, you will take him to Taishakuten’s keep in the south. He knows to expect you.”

Fuck.

Kurogane hated that fucker. Taishakuten was a ruthless Fae. He had been to the late King what Kurogane was to the changeling prince… Somehow, his _Anamchara_ or _Soulmate_ had perished along with the rest of the royal family while his king’s guard had survived.

An odd protective feeling crept up in his chest. He might not know who the Prince was—but he was not going to let the same thing happen to him as what had happened to his father.

That was the only thing he was damn well sure of.


	2. Chapter 2

“Fai! Faai! Answer me, dammit!” 

Fai peeled his eyes open as he heard his foster mother shout down the stairs at him and muffled his annoyed groan into his pillows. Rubbing at his eyes and glancing at the clock, and shot upright in bed at seeing that it was only 4 am. Much too early to be haggling him about getting out of bed on time.

His first thought was that there must be something very wrong—and he was halfway to the door before he realized what was going on.

“Fai—Did you take your medication?” The woman was at the bottom of the basement steps and was marching towards him with a scowl on her face, which caused the blond stopped dead in his tracks.

Right.

This again.

He could smell the alcohol on her from his bedroom door nearly ten feet away, and it took serious effort for him not to roll his eyes. Rather than matching her pissy energy, Fai pulled a bright smile onto his face and nodded quickly while rubbing at his eyes again. “Yes, Mama.” 

Having any sort of attitude with her would only make it much worse for him. They did this song and dance regularly after all—just usually not this early. 

“Don’t you lie to me. Did you take your pills?” She slurred as she reached him, her high heels wobbled as they clicked across the concrete floor. Fai instinctively took a few steps back—retreating into his room to avoid her trying to grab him. 

He hated it when she drank.

She had no doubt just gotten home, which meant that she had driven home like this. 

“I’m not lying. I took them before bed just like I am supposed to.” He knew she wasn’t going to be reasoned with. Before she could even ask, Fai had flipped the light switch and headed over to the dresser he stored his meds on and handed the bottle over to her.

“I’ll be the judge of that.” She snatched the small orange vial roughly out of his hand and struggled to get the top open before spilling them all onto the dresser top—a few of the pills skittering off the side and toppling to the floor.

Fai didn’t even bother to sigh as he bent to collect them while he listened to his foster mother count the doses out loud. One under the dresser, three under the bed, and four of them scattered onto the stained concrete—all carefully collected and placed with the others.

He knew what would happen if she thought he was taking too many or too little—and Fai wasn’t in the mood to hide any new bruises. 

Losing track more than once, Fai silently waited for her to reach her final count and had to wonder how shitty her night had been to be dragging herself in this late after last call… The blond knew he wouldn't hear about it until he got home from school again, and she had sobered up—but by now, he could take a wild guess. 

She was always drunk—but not usually this drunk.

He wasn’t sure how many times she double-checked her count, but rather than admit he had done just as he was supposed to—she counted out his morning’s dose and held them out for him as she continued to scowl.

Fai made the mistake of looking at her a moment too long before holding out his hand to take them, and she tsked loudly. “What the fuck are you waiting for?”

He hardly had time to mutter a tired apology and pop the pills in his mouth before she had gripped his chin roughly.

“Swallow.”

He did.

Dry.

He was good at it by now. This wasn’t the first time she had pulled this on him, and it would be far from the last time. As soon as they were down, he opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue—and she dropped her grip and wobbled towards the door—leaning a hand on the wall for support as she went.

There was no way he was going to fall back asleep, but he headed back to his bed anyway. It wasn’t until she had reached the top of the stairs—and he was already comfortably settled again—that she remembered the other reason she needed him.

“Fai!” She called again down the stairs, and the blond didn’t bother to hide his sigh this time. “Fai!!”

“Yes, Mama?” Climbing back out of bed, he headed for the stairs as he heard his name shouted again—even louder—followed by some vague threat that was whispered under the woman’s breath. All Fai could do was repeat himself again—sweetening his tone and covering a yawn with a big smile.

“I have groceries in the trunk. Come get them.” She was leaning against the door frame at the top the stairs as she pulled one of the stilettoes off her feet—Fai nodded and headed up to the main level of the house—mindful of how unbalanced she was as she swapped her stance and pulled the other shoe off, leaving them right where they dropped before wobbling off. 

He didn’t dare roll his eyes until he heard her bedroom door close. 

Fai headed out the front door and down the driveway to the sidewalk barefoot—the icy concrete shocking him awake as he made his way to the car. She had left the trunk open, and even from the porch, he could see there wasn’t much. 

Upon closer inspection, it was only milk, eggs, cheese, bologna, bread, and cereal—oh, and the four bottles of bottom shelf wine she would chug before heading to work. All suspiciously warm… meaning that aside from the wine, she had stopped at the food pantry before work and just left everything to sit in her car during her shift.

Perfect.

Fai dumped everything but the bread, cereal, and booze directly into the garbage can outside and headed back in to grab his keys and shoes. It wasn’t like there wasn’t time to head to the store now… and he knew he didn't have time to deal with the kids getting food poisoning later.

The house was silent as he headed back down to his room in the basement. He had a bit of money his therapist had given him hidden from his foster mom and siblings—and Fai made quick work of rummaging through the Christmas tree box that hadn’t been used since before he had moved in 10 years ago. Snatching the balled-up towel, he carefully retrieved a small coin purse that hid a few twenties and tucked one into his sneaker before quietly heading back up the stairs.

The store wasn’t close—but not too far for him to make it there and back again in time to get the kids ready for school and pack their lunches if he hurried.

Fai had just proved he had taken his meds—but more than a few things made him feel as though he hadn’t as he made his way along the dark street. Of course, there was still a big part of him that questioned if all those pills did anything besides make him drop dead tired and feel numb to anything and everything that was going on around him. 

Fai didn’t notice much of a difference in the frequency or intensity of his issues on or off the medications. 

Shadows of people and animals he knew couldn’t possibly be there skittered in the outskirts of his vision, and Fai knew better than to look at any of them directly. The second he acknowledged one of his hallucinations, they usually started messing with him.

He had only just gotten rid of the last one… and that had only been after doubling his meds and weeks of therapy to convince himself that there really wasn’t a screaming woman following him around everywhere he went.

Seishiro wasn’t going to be happy if he picked up another one so soon… and he honestly didn’t have the energy to be kept up for weeks on end again.

Locking his bike up in front of the store, Fai made quick work of replacing the spoiled food and loaded back up to head home before the sun even started to rise over the tree line. Everything was going fine until he rounded the last corner into his driveway and spotted a pair of blood-red eyes watching him.

Sometimes it was hard for Fai to tell the difference between his mind’s tricks and real-life animals—but he felt his blood run cold as those red eyes watched him coming up the pea stone drive. Sitting just out of the porch light’s reach was something—probably some sort of animal thing—watching his every move like a hawk.

Fai took two deep breaths, and when whatever it was didn’t try to eat him—he looked away and headed for the door—hoping that it just chose to move on on its way and leave him be. The hair on the back of his neck was standing up as he tried to keep his cool and unlock the door—and he about jumped out of his skin when he heard a voice come from the direction of those ruby eyes.

“Hey! Come here.”

Fai felt the hair on his neck stand on end, and it took everything he had to play it cool as he continued on his way. 

Nope.

No way. 

Not in a million years. 

Sometimes, his brain cooked up some scary-ass stuff, but even this was too much for him. Fai didn’t care if it wasn’t real. As soon as the lock popped, he ripped the door open and slammed it closed again before whatever the heck had such terrifying eyes followed him inside.

Leaning against the door, he waited for any sign of movement on the other side, and when he heard no booming steps or giant claws trying to rip the door open behind him—Fai let out the breath he was holding and headed for the kitchen.

By the time he had slapped together the sandwiches for lunch and got himself a shower, the glowing eyes were more or less forgotten, and he rushed through the rest of his morning routine without really thinking about it.

It wasn’t until he headed back out the door to go to the bus stop that anxiety started to creep up again. Fai peeked through the window to check for any giant demon monsters that might be lurking outside the door—and cautiously poked his head outside and did a quick sweep of the front yard before actually leaving.

He managed to make it to about the driveway before he spotted the pair of red eyes again—and even though he knew he shouldn’t… Fai stared at the creature they belonged to.

A small, black fluffy animal with eyes, ears, and feet too big for its tiny body…

His first thought was _what a cute puppy_ , but it honestly looked slightly demonic—and while it was kind of cute, Fai wanted nothing to do with it. 

It felt off, and since none of the other kids started cooing and rushing for it, he was willing to bet it wasn’t really there. Not so scary in the light, but making eye contact with one of his hallucinations was still pretty unnerving. 

Mainly because the dog-like creature perked up as soon as he was noticed and started to walk towards Fai clumsily. 

No thanks. 

The bus honking its horn to get the blond's attention caused the dog to jump and freeze—and Fai laughed lightly as he turned to get on… He had to wonder where the heck he came up with some of this stuff.

As the sliding door folded open for him, Fai heard the same voice as before calling after him again. He didn’t catch what it said, but it was the same gruff tone as earlier this morning. By the time he took his seat and could again look out the window, the small black dog had run to the bus doors and seemed to give up the chase as they started to pull away.

Fai almost felt bad leaving the little thing behind like that… but he didn’t need a new imaginary friend or foe, and he could already hear his therapist writing him a higher script to try and stop him from seeing the little cloud of black fluff.

He hoped it wasn’t there when he got home.

Fai’s staring didn’t go unnoticed, and the girls sitting in the bench seat across from him started to whisper and snicker. He had gotten a lot better at acting normal over the years—but Fai had never managed to drop the tag of ‘weird kid’ and while most of the kids at school had given up bullying him at this point—

Well...

Everyone knew he was batshit crazy.

It was okay, though. 

He only had to get through the rest of this year—then his senior year—then he would no longer be a ward of the state and could head off to college wherever he pleased. Make a fresh start with fresh people who didn’t know that he saw things that were not really there.

He could make it a year and a half.

Popping his headphones in, Fai closed his eyes and leaned his head against the window and simply tuned out his surroundings for the rest of the ride to school. He had choir first thing in the morning, and the teacher was going to announce which musical their school was going to be putting on this year, and it was the one thing about school he actually looked forward to.

The after school theater practice was not only an excuse not to go back home after school, but it was also the only time his classmates were not overly wary of him. The music director was also one of the few teachers that treated him like any other kid, and for a few hours a day, he got to feel normal.

Even important.

He had been cast in lead roles the last two years, and he was hoping to go three for three.

  
  



	3. Chapter 3

Well—they had wasted an entire fucking week, and Kurogane was getting pretty pissy about it. 

It was fucking freezing in the human realm, and even in his beast form with all his thick fur, Kurogane was still freezing his balls off trying to catch the Prince. 

He had not so affectionately taken to referring to the future king of the Unseelie fae as ‘that fucking idiot’—and Souhma and Kenndappa had stopped trying to scold him for it after a few days. 

None of them expected the hardest part to be catching the fucker. 

The Prince was a changeling, sure—So he naturally didn’t know that he was a fae or that Kurogane was here to rescue him from the fucking dumpster fire he had ended up in… but none of them were expecting him to be terrified of every fae he came across. 

The human world wasn’t full of fae, by any means—Kurogane had only seen a few small fries hanging around here or there, and the idiot avoided them like he avoided his soulmate. There was no cosmic connection between them… no pull that lured the skittish blond towards him—if anything, he seemed especially wary of Kurogane in comparison to the other fae that more or less ignored him back. 

Which was fucked… every single fae he knew described a connection with their _Anamchara_ … None of them had ever really explained what the hell the connection was supposed to feel like—but he was seriously wondering if they had the wrong kid. 

Fai—as the humans called him—was avoiding Kurogane like he was fucking Satan himself. 

Most mornings, the blond would hide inside the locked house until the large yellow bus would pull up in front of the house—the doors would open, and Fai would rush right past Kurogane into the damn thing and disappear. For being tied into a human from—The Prince was fast on his feet. 

The city air was so dirty and polluted that Kurogane had not been able to pin his scent and follow him to wherever the hell it was that he spent the day—and he was forced to wait out in the cold until the ugly yellow contraption dropped the idiot back off. 

Fai would ignore all his attempts to get him to stop and just fucking listen—and rush back into that disgusting house and slam the door closed in his face. 

Pretty fucking rude. 

The other humans that resided there alongside the prince were mostly grubby children, which didn’t do Kurogane a lot of good—but one adult female left the house every evening and would return again to stagger inside just before dawn. She was going to be his ticket into the home—and he would corner Fai and make him listen if he had to. 

They were running out of time. 

As much as he had hoped they wouldn’t actually have to manhandle the bastard to the Otherworld… For their peoples good, as well as for the Prince’s own good, it started to look like it that might be the only option if they didn’t get something figured out soon. 

He hadn’t been able to see much from peeking in the damn windows or the rear glass door. It was evident that Fai had not had an easy life if the state of the home was anything to go by. 

Kids basically stacked on top of kids—trash and laundry covering the floors with only narrow pathways leading from room to room… Curious bruises on both the Prince as well as the rest of the children—and the sole adult in the home seemed to sleep through the day and drink the night away. 

Kurogane’s skin itched just looking at it—this was no place for the Prince, and hopefully once they got past the whole _oh-you’re-not-really-human-we-just-had-to-hide-you-in-the-mortal-realm-for-your-own-safety_ thing... Then hopefully, he would be excited to get the fuck outta this disgusting place. 

It was going to be a while yet until the woman returned home, so he made himself comfortable in the large concrete path that led up to the house. Maintaining his humanoid form was too difficult for him to do in the mortal realm—but he couldn’t help but think he might actually be warmer with all the layers of clothing the mortals donned in the colder months of the year. 

At least there was no snow. 

Still—he was slightly jealous of Sohma and Kendappa for being able to hold their true forms steady even with how weak their magic became as soon as they left the Otherworld. Not only could he bundle up, but getting the idiot to stop running away would be a hell of a lot easier if he looked human… 

Then again—when it came to breaking and entering—his tiny size _did_ have its perks. 

So it wasn’t too bad. 

Like clockwork, the old beat up car pulled into the driveway before the sun had started to rise, and thankfully, tonight was one of the nights the woman had packages to bring in. Ordinary humans could not see his kind, so it was easy enough to slip past her unnoticed and crawl into one of the bags. Kurogane was carried into the house with the groceries, and it had been so easy he felt like an idiot for not doing it sooner. 

It didn’t take more than a few seconds to decide he liked it out in the freezing cold better. 

Like the rest of the city, the first thing he noticed about the inside of the house was the smell. It was not a pleasant one, and it only made him want to get Fai out of here that much faster. 

Before any rescuing could be done though—he needed to find the bastard first. 

The woman stumbled as her heels clicked along the narrow path that led to the kitchen, and Kurogane cursed under his breath as the bag he was in dropped to the floor. He barely had time to scramble out of the way as she reached for one of the bottles he had just been sitting on—and just he managed to steer clear of her stomping feet as she headed to the counter and started rummaging through drawers. 

He tried to tune her out as he sniffed the musty air in search of a sweet scent that was quickly becoming familiar. Fai smelled almost like vanilla and ginger—it was very distinctive—but too tricky for Kurogane to detect with how much was going on in the cramped, messy house. 

He was getting ready to try and head for the upstairs to look for him while the woman opened her bottle and poured half of its contents into a large red plastic cup. It wasn’t until she had stumbled over to the basement door and pulled it open to flip on the lights that he actually caught a hint of his target. 

Fai’s scent hit his nose like a breath of fresh air, and Kurogane padded towards the door and followed her down the stairs—cringing slightly as she screamed something unintelligible once she hit the bottom step.

Surprisingly, the house got much cleaner as they hit the base floor, and Kurogane followed her right into the blond’s room without hesitation. Sitting up in bed, ruffled and sleepy-eyed, Fai only glanced at him for half a moment before flashing a bright smile at the woman. 

The woman slurred something else at Fai—and with another quick glance at Kurogane—he scurried off the bed and rushed to beat her to the tattered dresser that was pressed against the far wall. The blond pulled a few of the many little orange bottles from the front of the herd and started handing them over. 

“Last night at 9 with food—” Fai handed the first bottle over. “Yesterday morning when you gave it to me....” he handed her another one and waited for her to finish squinting at the label before continuing. “—and this one in the morning like the last, at lunch yesterday, and again when I got home…” 

Kurogane frowned and watched the woman confusedly look between the three bottles before setting on opening the top of the smallest bottle and dumping a few pills into her palm. “One of these in the morning right?” 

Ok…

It wasn’t like fae couldn’t have human medications… They just seldom had the desired effect, and that was a lot of bottles. 

Fai shook his head back and forth, grinned at the woman. “I take that one at night time.” Quickly, the blond grabbed a tattered green pocket folder that had been tucked against the mirror and pulled out a surprisingly well kept notebook, the cover of which was concealed by a piece of printer paper taped to the front. 

Turning the notebook around in his hands so it would be right side up for the woman—he pointed to a line and read it aloud to her before flipping open to a marked page and reading off when, as well as how much he had taken, then his own name written. “So not till after school again, Mama.” 

Kurogane’s brows furrowed, and he let out a low growl at hearing the Prince refer to the woman in such a way. Confusion as to the reason for the term—and anger that if Fai really saw this woman as a mother—then why the fuck was he living in such conditions? 

The blonde's eyes flickered to him for just a second, and even though the woman was obviously very intoxicated, she did not miss the small action and dropped the pills so she could roughly grip the blonds face by his chin and cheeks. 

“You’re lying to me, you little brat—You see something again, don’t you?” 

It took every ounce of his training not to move as she tightened her grip on Fai’s face and caused the blond to yelp in pain. 

“Nothi—”

“Do _not_ lie to me, Fai.” the woman jerked the changelings face to the side roughly. “What was so interesting, then?” 

Kurogane watched as blue eyes darted across the room frantically—looking everywhere but directly at him, even though Kurogane couldn’t keep himself from growling at the woman. Fierce protective urges washed over him—but clobbering that bitch would likely do neither of them any good. 

“Spit it out!” 

“”J—Just the VCR clock. I promise they are working. I haven’t seen anything in weeks…” Fai held both of his hands up with open palms in a show of innocence and his ‘mother’ let go of his face before reaching for her glass and downing most of the liquid. 

“Clean that up.” 

Kurogane did not stop growling, but Fai did a hell of a job ignoring him as he got down onto his knees to scrape the plastic capsules up off the floor. He could see red marks on the Princes cheeks as he racked them together before picking them up one-by-one, blowing off any debris that may have clung to the slightly tacky plastic. 

The woman continued to sip from her plastic cup as she watched him from her spot leaning against the dresser. Unlike Fai, this fucking bitch couldn’t see or hear that she was about to wear his patience out. 

Fai dumped the pills back into their bottle and screwed the lid shut and took out more little, multi-colored capsules before popping them into his mouth. The woman held out her red plastic cup towards the blond, and Fai took a quick sip to help wash them down, cringing slightly as he handed it back. 

The rest of their exchange was quick—The woman quietly checked the changeling's mouth to ensure that he had, in fact, swallowed the pills before she told him to get back in bed. Then she stumbled out of the room, up the stairs, and back towards the front of the house, and they both stood stock still and silent until they heard her crawl into her creaky bed. 

Only after a few seconds of silence did Fai let his tears fall—hiccuping as his lip quivered. 

Fuck. 

Kurogane froze and watched as the prince slowly covered his eyes with both of his hands and sunk down onto the floor. It took just long enough for Fai to wrap his arms around his knees and hide his face, as it did for Kurogane’s brain to kick back into problem-solving mode. 

He assumed Fai was hurt from the woman grabbing him, so Kurogane’s first thought was to jump down onto the blonde's level to check on him. He barely laid a finger on the Prince before the blonde damn near jumped out of his skin as he yelped and scurried back a few feet. 

He probably should have stopped there—but instead of assuming he had just scared the shit outta the idiot—the fae assumed he had scratched the blond and quickly apologized as he tried to get closer… 

Bad idea. 

It was plain as day that Fai was afraid of him when he kicked Kurogane away and wiggled back further across the floor until his shoulders slammed into the concrete wall next to the dresser. 

That was really all it too for Kurogane to be back at feeling pissy about not being able to maintain his usual form… 

Blondie here might be bigger and stronger than him in this reduced form—but back in the Otherworld, the prince would have hurt his foot more than Kurogane, given how much bigger he was than this twerp. 

“Fuck—” Kurogane shook it off as he got to his feet. “—I didn’t mean to scare you… but with you like that and me like this—It isn’t really a fair fight.” 

“Go away.” Blues eyes hardened at Kurogane as he flopped back down into a sitting position and shook his head back and forth. 

“No.” That was not gonna happen. “I already wasted a week trying to get your attention, bastard.” 

A momentary look of shock flashed across Fai’s face before he was back to glaring daggers at Kurogane—looking about as intimidating as a wet kitten with the tears, snot and quickly forming bruises on his face. 

He couldn’t really blame the prince for being wary of acknowledging his presence if that was the reaction he got from the bitch that was supposed to be his caregiver… but but the blond’s mom couldn't see or hear them, now—and they were running out of time. 

“Go. Away. You’re not real.” Fai brought both of his hands up to cover his eyes and curled back into himself

“Not gonna happen. We need to talk.”

Fai apparently didn’t like that answer, and Kurogane shivered as he steeled his resolve to sit through the tears and whispers of ‘go away’ and ‘not real’ for close to an hour before the changeling calmed down enough. 

He had never liked tears. 

Usually, that was because it was some kid squeaking and not because it made his own chest impossibly tight from the sound alone. It did give him a time to think—and an hour was a long time to figure out what to say. 

Trying to work around the whole not real thing was going to be a bitch and a half to explain. 

Way back when changelings were common—human women who could not have children of their own would bargain with the fae for an infant to raise as their own. Mothers of course knew the child was a changeling and would one day be retrieved—sooner rather than later, if she did not uphold her end of the deal… 

While changelings rarely knew they were not human—their unique abilities were often hidden from the mortals around them. Shielded away from humans entirely—or taught to hide what made them different… 

As far as Kurogane knew—that was supposed to be the case with the Prince—a human woman made a hell of a promise to Taishakuten when he hid the infant in the human world… The Sumeragi heir had been the one to keep an eye on him over the ears in the mortal realm—and he had never mentioned anything about the guardian human passing away. 

But who knows what kind of batty woman Taishakuten might have found on such short notice… Maybe she had raised Fai to not only think he was human—but had taught him that his own kind were not real and tried to drug his ability to connect with his own kind's magic out of him… 

Or maybe the fact that Fai was a fae was never conveyed to her, and she was afraid of letting him be… 

Didn’t really matter. 

Kurogane didn’t like the bitch, and he was going to get Fai outta this shit hole soon. 

The sooner the better. 

Fai finally peeked out between fingers and sighed when he saw Kurogane still sitting across from him, still on the floor sitting next to one of the legs of the bed. He was still here because he was real—and they needed to get that much established before they could do anything else. 

“Like I said…” Kurogane observed the blond for any negative reactions and continued speaking softly. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I just needed to talk to you and you keep runnin’ away.” 

While he didn’t get any sort of negative reaction from Fai—the lack of reaction had Kurogane growing frustrated. 

Kurogane’s ears flopped and he let out a deep sigh.

“Okay, Idiot, for the record: You’re a prince. Better believe it. You were put in the mortal world ‘cause you were in danger due to a coup d’etat, now you’re in danger here, so we need to bring you back over before you turn 16.”

Continued silence 

“I’m your escort.”

Kurogane watched as Fai finally dropped the hands that were covering his face. Wide blue eyes watched him for a moment before the blond burst out laughing. 


	4. Chapter 4

Fai really had to hand it to himself this time around. 

The brave little black dog named Kurogane was probably the weirdest thing he had managed to cook up in his head yet, and he had been shaken enough by the first early morning encounter that he had skipped school to see Seishiro. 

Fai got his usual lecture about the importance of his attendance—then Seishiro and decided to join him in playing hooky, canceling his appointments for the day, and just listening to Fai talk until he ran out of things to say. 

It had been exactly what he needed… 

He wasn’t happy to hear that Fai had picked up a new one—but unlike his foster mom—Seishiro hadn’t gotten mad about it. Which made it possible for Fai to actually explain what was going on and get help… 

Seishiro had sent him home with a new prescription that more than doubled his usual dose, and all he had been able to do once he had gotten home was collapse into bed. Kurogane had looked concerned at how exhausted he was—but any time there were big changes in his medications, he needed time to adjust to them. 

The amount of time always varied—but he was hoping Kurogane would disappear before then… 

It turned out to be a long week. 

Kurogane was there when he went to bed—and the little dog was still there when he woke up again. 

Day after day after day. 

Each day just a little more insistent about his stories. 

To the point that Fai was really starting to believe that Kurogane was actually worried about his well being. His meds kept him fluffy headed enough that he spent most of the week slightly amused and very confused as to how he had managed to come up with a worried puppy trying to rescue him from his shitty life and whisk him away to a castle to live happily ever after. 

Fai was supposedly the long lost Prince of some fairy kingdom… 

Man—wouldn’t that be nice… 

Really, it wasn’t so terrible. Kurogane wasn’t mean by any means. Actually, this was probably the first time that his hallucination hadn’t tried to torture him in one way or another… But the fact that Kurogane was trying to lure him off to god only knows where was lowkey terrifying. 

Fai had yet to follow Kurogane back to what he called the  _ Otherworld _ . Mostly because his new meds had Fai out of it more often than not. Which meant that aside from bathroom breaks and getting up to eat and take his meds, he was sleeping. The few hours that he was awake, Kurogane was at his side, and he even tried to help take care of Fai. 

Which was… 

Oddly cute. 

Kurogane had a calm, quiet energy and seemed to have no interest in playing any pranks on him or hurting him in any way. Which was unusual. Fai quickly found that he was starting to look forward to seeing Kurogane, and he enjoyed the quiet company. 

While he still wholly believed that once they got the meds right, the imaginary dog would disappear—Fai didn’t mind listening to Kuro’s gruff growls and annoyed sighs as he reiterated how important it was they got back to the royal city as soon as possible… 

The amount of genuine urgency that carried in his voice always made Fai shiver—and he was again left wondering where the heck he had cooked this up from. 

The amount of detail was incredible and the level of commitment from the supposed fairy had him almost ready to start feeling guilty over not believing a word of it… Especially because Kurogane claimed his mom was sick… 

Sick and needed his help or she was going to die… 

He might not sound like he was lying… but it was just too tall of a tale, and Kurogane had yet to provide any form of proof for what he was saying. After all—unless someone other than Fai could see him or be affected by him, then chances were he really had just concocted the entire idea in his head. 

That didn’t mean that his overly empathetic ass wasn’t left feeling guilty. He had lost his own mother at a very young age and Kurogane was just so small… 

Currently, his new favorite hallucination was laying on the bottom of the bed staring at the TV when they both picked up on the sound of the basement door being opened, and someone coming down. Fai hadn’t gone to school today—he hadn’t been back to school since his meds changed due to how out of it he was. 

His guess was either one of the kids were sent down to make sure he was still breathing—or his foster mom needed something. 

Seishiro unfortunately was required to call her and inform her when there were changes in his patients medications or routines—so she more or less took her usual approach of locking Fai in his room until she deemed him stable enough to come back upstairs. 

Unless she needed something, of course—then suddenly, he was fine. 

Since she had been keeping her distance from him the entire week, he had been enjoying not having to go to school or look after everyone upstairs. Food usually got brought to his room for him by one of his siblings—but so far today, no one had bothered him. 

Fai knew when Kurogane started to growl lowly that it was his foster mom—Kuro had yet to pay any of the kids in the house any mind, but he had made it very clear that he did not care for his foster parent. 

It had to be early afternoon—before she left for work at the club—because she smelled like cheap after shower spray and hair mousse rather than stale booze and cigarette smoke. She was usually a bitch when she was sober—but Fai preferred her bitchy over drunk and violent. 

“Hi Baby.” His foster mother pressed her clammy hands to his forehead and Fai managed to peel his eyes open. “I’m going to work. I need you to go to the food bank before they close today—we’re out of mostly everything and the kids haven’t eaten yet today.” 

Fai had to repeat the sentence in his head a few times to comprehend it fully but as soon as he did, his brows furrowed. 

Seriously? 

“Yeah...” Fai pushed himself into a sitting position once she had straightened back out and made sure not to look at Kurogane. He had stopped his growling, but Fai could see out of the corner of his eye that he was staring his foster mom down, just daring her to try something. 

How sweet… 

Too bad imaginary friends couldn’t actually touch anyone. 

“Are you feeling any better?” Fai nodded slowly—he wasn’t—but he didn’t need her getting upset with him again. “Think you can also do some laundry and clean up a bit?” 

Fai nodded again and reached for his phone to check the time. He didn’t have much time to get to the food bank before they closed… So he was going to have to hurry and he just really wasn’t in the mood. 

Chores were non-negotiable, though. If she got home and found out that he had disobeyed, he would be paying for it dearly. Usually, that involved having things thrown at him… or get ripped out of bed by his hair. 

He would rather force himself to stay awake even though he was higher than a kite than repeat any of her favorite punishments. 

The nod was enough for her—she left without another word and Fai was too busy trying to decide if he had time to shower before he left the house, or was going to have to rock the greasy hair and days old pajama look. 

He settled for new clothes and dry shampoo, and he didn’t miss that Kurogane looked away as Fai started to change his clothes. 

For being a dog that swore more than a sailor—Kurogane was pretty respectful of the blond’s personal space. He stuck to watching the TV until Fai had finished getting ready—only perking up when the blond finally headed for the door. 

Kurogane hopped down off the bed to block his way and Fai laughed awkwardly. “Sorry, little guy—I gotta go.” 

He wasn’t really sure why he was apologizing to an imaginary dog—but he currently could hardly follow a single train of thought. So Fai tried to not judge himself too hard and rolled with it. 

“I told you it’s not safe here for you anymore—I won't let you out of my sight.” Kurogane’s tone was dry and Fai simply shrugged. 

Right. 

Magic little dog was going to keep him safe from scary magic assassins… 

How could he have forgotten. 

Fai stepped over him carefully and slipped his feet in the sandals he had left next to the door. No point in arguing. 

Kurogane snorted and trotted after him—waiting patiently as Fai started rustling around the old Christmas tree box for where he hid his pocket money from his foster family. He didn’t say a word about it—to which Fai was grateful for. 

He didn't mind listening to Kurogane talk because no one else could hear him—but Fai had been doing his best to keep his lips zipped, so as not to draw any unnecessary attention when his family was home. Kurogane seemed to have picked up on the fact that the blond had to be careful around your average person, and took care not to disturb him if possible. 

He really was a very considerate hallucination. 

Fai found himself smiling over the level of consideration and wordlessly held the heavy basement door open for his imaginary friend to follow him through and they did the same for the front door. Kurogane didn’t pay the rest of the family much mind—most of the kids were piled on the ratty sofa watching some game show on TV—and red eyes only glanced at them momentarily as they crossed the room. 

The house was always a mess—but without him helping out the last week ,it had really gone to hell… 

As much as he hated the clutter and trash, Fai just didn’t have the time or energy to clean up after this many people—and their foster mother didn’t seem to mind the mess one way or another. 10 ‘special needs’ kid in one home, with one alcoholic caretaker, was really a recipe for disaster… 

Snagging a set of keys from the front table—Fai didn’t bother interrupting their TV time to let them know where he was going. He might be the oldest by at least 5 years—but the older ones would look after the younger ones with or without his help—and if they somehow managed to burn the house down while they were left unsupervised? Well, then they would all have the chance at a less shitty foster family. 

Fai headed down the sidewalk and snagged his bike from where he had left it leaning against the house with the rest. Kurogane was watching him with an odd look and It wasn’t until they were at the end of the driveway and about ready to push off that the dog spoke up. 

“You gonna be ok like that?” 

“Like what?” The blonde answered before he thought to check for other people that might overhear and internally scolded himself. He was foggy but fine—and he was used to riding his bike to get around town. His foster mom hated carting kids around. 

“You’ve hardly moved in days and you keep swaying when you walk.” Kurogane sat down on the pea stone driveway and tucked his tail around his feet. 

His hallucination was now scolding him for driving his bike while more or less medically sedated? 

“What are you supposed to be—My conscience?” Fai rolled his eyes and carefully leaned down to scoop the pooch up off the ground. He was not expecting for Kurogne to yelp and flail as he was lifted into the front basket of the bike, and Fai chuckled at the betrayed look he got from those ruby eyes. 

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Blondie? Let me back down!” Kurogane looked around the basket and made an attempt to jump back out—only to have Fai catch him and put him back in. 

If he could rangle a wiggle bug like Kurogane into the basket he was gonna be able to make it the three miles to the food bank.

“I felt like being nice and giving you a lift.” Fai smiled down at the dog and found himself chuckling as ears were pinned back and Kurogane looked at him long and hard. He had never touched one of them before—but Kurogane was unbelievably soft and warm to the touch. 

As surprising as that was—Fai pushed off on the bike and headed north towards the closest food bank.

“Be a good doggy and just be happy I’m not making you run there and back behind the bike.” It was nearly 3 miles there and back and Kurogane was awfully small… It just seemed like the right thing to do and it was too late to take it back now. 

“I’m not a doggy. Stop calling me that.” Kurogane grumped and Fai rolled his eyes. 

“If you don’t like it, you can leave.” He might be crazy—but he was not crazy enough to argue with whatever this thing was… 

Kurogane huffed and his ears remained pinned back as they pulled into the bike lane. Fai didn’t even think about the weather until they got going and the cold air started biting at his ears and cheeks. 

He had left the house in a long sleeved t-shirt and skinny jeans and regretted it after the first few blocks. He didn’t have time to go back for a coat and pedaled a little faster to make up for it. The sooner he got home and got through his chores, the sooner he could take a hot shower and go back to bed. 

“You just swerved.” Kurogane had to shout to be heard and the blonde's only response was to shrug. 

Oops. 

Balance wasn’t always easy for him when his head was this fluffy—but he wouldn’t be forced to take more than usual in the first place if it wasn’t for the furball that was trying to convince him to run away from home. 

Those oversized ears stayed pinned back until Fai pulled up to their destination. He locked his bike up and scooped Kurogane back out of the basket and set him down onto his feet. Keeping out of the way—Kuro pattered after Fai as they headed down the hallway that led to the back room of the church. 

This wasn’t his first rodeo and he snagged one of the clipboards from the table next to the door and filled it out quickly as he got in line to wait. The foodbank took place every Thursday—and there were a lot of familiar faces, both working as well as waiting in line next to them. 

None of them seemed to notice the black dog with almost glowing red eyes watching them all carefully, though—not even the service dog that was sitting next to its handler on the other side of the room… 

Kurogane wasn’t bothered by it one bit, but Fai was left feeling absolutely insane as he worried about the little thing getting stepped on by one of the other adults… For whatever reason Kurogane had gotten steadily bigger throughout the week—he still looked like a puppy sure, but far less like a Shepherd dog and more like a little wolf puppy. 

He was still small enough that a foot would probably snap his spine or something… 

Which in and of itself was something totally crazy to worry about. Logically, real things shouldn’t be able to touch figments of his imagination… but there was nothing logical about this hallucination and Fai was pretty sure he had imagined Kurogane being able to crawl under the covers and move things like full water bottles… 

By the time he had reached the front of the line he was already exhausted again. He managed to smile brightly as he handed over his paperwork and waited patiently as the woman packed a box up for him. 

He headed straight for the door and his anxiety instantly faded once they were back in the parking lot and away from everyone else. Kneeling next to this bike, he moved most of the smaller items from the box and tucked them into his backpack to make room in the basket for Kurogane. 

When he had slid the bag back over his shoulder, he patted one of his knees before holding his hands out towards the scowling furball. 

“I told you.” Kurogane growled but took a few steps forward. “Don’t treat my like some stupid mutt.”

Fai’s only response was a soft smile as the black puppy got close enough for him to pick him up and settle back in the basket and they made their way back home without major issues. He brought the groceries inside and his little shadow continued to stick close while he cooked an easy dinner and handed out bowls of food to all the kids in the house. 

With instructions for his foster siblings to finish up eating and get a few changes of clothes together for laundry—Fai headed into the bathroom to snag a shower before all the hot water was gone again. 

All the kids in the house shared the single bathroom off the kitchen and it was covered in damp towels and discarded changes of school clothes. Snagging the last clean one from his secret hiding spot in the linnen closet, Fai hung it up and turned on the water—the ancient water heater took forever to heat up. 

Pulling the glass door to the shower closed, he made quick work of scooping all the towels off the floor and headed down to shove them into the washer—then he gathered up all the kids’ clothes off the floor and dumped the pile in the clear spot in the middle of the kitchen—his foster siblings would come and find them when they had finished eating, and Fai wasn’t in the mood to have all the steamy air let out of the bathroom over and over again. 

All the while Kurogane was shadowing him quietly—not fussing and being careful to stay out of his way. When he followed him back into the bathroom, Fai closed and locked the bathroom door. “Did my brave bodyguard decide I need to be protected in the shower, too, then?” 

“I just didn’t know that was what you were doing.” Kurogane averted his eyes as soon as Fai pulled off his shirt and he really had to wonder what was up with the over the top modesty.

Was he subconsciously afraid to see himself naked or something? 

Fai still didn’t have half a clue how he might have concocted his new friend of his… 

“You’re just a hallucination, so it doesn’t really matter to me~” Fai slid out of his bottoms as well and hopped into the shower—amused that Kurogane turned fully away to give him more privacy. 

“I am not.” Kurogane tsked. “You’re just too dense to realize I am here to help you.” 

Right.

“No—I am not mentally ill enough to believe that I am some long lost fairy prince with a doggy fairy godmother that showed up to rescue me.” Fai eased back under the water and relaxed as the hot waves washed over his sensitive skin. 

Laying in bed for most of the day left you with more sore muscles thaqn you would guess… He had been far too out of it to notice how sore he was—but the bike ride had really just zapped all of his energy. 

“What the heck is a fairy godmother?” Kurogane sounded genuinely curious and Fai chuckled. 

“If you're some sort of Fairy, shouldn't you know?” He teased as he reached for the shampoo and popped the cap open. He could practically hear the eye roll in his imaginary friend's response. 

“I thought you didn’t believe in Fae.” 

“I don’t. They're just fun stories we tell kids. You know—like Cinderella!” Fai had always been rather fond of that movie… more because he had always wanted a Prince to whisk him away from his circumstances… not because of the fairy godmother or talking animals… 

Maybe that was where this was all coming from? Seishiro had pointed out self projection in his hallucinations before and usually after he did, they just… went away.

Had he made up Kurogane to play Cinderella with him? 

“Cinderella?” 

“It’s a movie.” Fai explained. “Cinderella lives with an evil stepmother and stepsisters who treat her like their slave. When Prince Charming invites them all to a special ball at the castle, they rip poor Cinderella’s dress up… but her fairy godmother turns a pumpkin into a carriage and her ruined dress into a beautiful ball gown. Only the spell wears off at midnight and she has to run away from Prince Charming before that happens and she never gives him her name—but he finds her by making all the girls try on the glass slipper she left behind and then they live happily ever after.” 

Kurogane listened to him explain the plot of the kids movie and was quiet for a moment before he snorted. “Humans tell strange stories… There is no such thing as a fairy godmother.” 

“Then what are you?” Fai leaned his head back to rinse out the soap. 


	5. Chapter 5

Kurogane did not like the fucking backpack.

It didn’t help that he bearly fucking fit—but it was the only way to make sure he didn’t accidentally get stepped on by the mortals lacking the ability to see him. 

It was cramped and hot… and Fai was way too fucking amused to shove him in there then should be allowed… He really  _ really  _ was starting to hate this form. He wasn’t a fucking dog—and the idiot wasn’t taking him seriously. 

They were running out of time, and the longer he spent with Fai, the more evident it became that he had his work cut out for him. 

Kurogane had been invited along today because Fai was going to prove once and for all he wasn’t real… He was going to do this by taking him to something called therapy. 

Fae didn’t have ‘therapy’ like the humans did. Fai had tried to explain it to him—but Kurogane was curious to see what kind of quack doctor was keeping the blond so drugged up that he could barely stay awake for more than a few hours at a time. 

Maybe if he could prove this idiot didn’t know what he was dealing with, he could actually convince Fai that their people’s lives were in danger as much as their own if they continued to dottle in the mortal realm. 

It had been almost three weeks since he had left home to try and retrieve Fai—and Kurogane had yet to receive word from anyone from the Unseelie court. He hadn’t even been able to leave the idiot’s side to check in with his cousin and Sohma… 

Depending on how this therapy thing went… Kurogane was going to have to call in for backup. Fai wouldn’t outright ignore him any longer, but he was so convinced that the fae was a figment of his imagination that they were not making any progress. 

Kurogane was jostled around as Fai swung the backpack over her shoulder after hopping off the bus—and he squeezed his head through the small opening for some fresh air and to get a look around. Fai strolled up the street to one of the more modern buildings and pulled a seemingly random door open. 

As soon as they stepped into the office’s sterile lobby, Kurogane caught a very unwelcome scent. The woman at the front desk gave them a cheery greeting to Fai and didn’t seem to notice him as she helped get blondie checked in—so the smell wasn’t coming from here. 

There was another Fae in the building. 

A powerful one. 

Given the unpleasant scent—it was a member of the Seelie court. 

There was no doubt about that. 

Fuck. 

Fai was utterly unaware of the danger and seemed relaxed enough as he cuddled up in one of the waiting room chairs—unzipping the bag enough so that Kurogane could easily get out and stretch his legs if he wanted. 

He chose to stay put for now. 

If the Seelie fae knew who Fai was—he would be safest if Kurogane did not interfere. If they hadn’t done anything yet, it was because they were observing the bylaws—waiting until the idiot was of age… 

While they didn’t have much time left, there was still a small window to get Fai the fuck outta here before he turned 16. Given the sheer amount of Seelie stink… Whoever was in the building was stronger then they were equipped to fight here in the mortal realm. 

Definitely not with this weak form… 

Not even if he had Sohma and Kendappa backing him up. 

The good news was that Kurogane found out pretty quick who it was they had to worry about—the bad news was that out of all the nasty bastards the Seelies could have sent… it was Seishiro Sakurazuka, the head magician of the high court of Seelie. 

A glorified assassin. 

This monster had been vital to the planning and execution of the royal house of the Unseelie court… 

Kurogane had to use every ounce of his warrior training to keep himself still and quiet as he watched Fai hop up out of his seat and glom onto the bastard like he hadn’t seen him in decades. Seishiro was too well trained to miss Kurogane’s presence—but oddly enough, he didn’t react to the younger fae in the slightest. 

Aside from a single glare—the fucker acted like Kurogane didn’t exist… 

Didn’t that just make everything fucking click. 

Fai clung to the older Fae for a while—but after a few pats on the back, the blond finally stepped back and snagged his backpack before following Seishiro back to one of the many rooms in the building. 

The bag was set on the floor next to Fai’s feet—and Kurogane reluctantly stayed put in the tiny canvas prison, and continued to watch the Seelie bastard’s every move. 

This was not what he had been expecting. 

“So—” Seishiro sat on the sofa opposite of Fai and flashed the Prince a fake smile. “—it’s been a week. Are you still having issues with the hallucinations?” 

Fai gave a sheepish laugh and ran a hand through his hair before glancing down towards his bag. “Mhm.” 

“I see.” Seishiro pushed his glasses up with his pointer finger and settled into a more comfortable position. “Well, as you know, it can take time for your medications to balance.”

“I know.” Fai managed to peel his eyes away from the bag. Yawning, he kicked off his shoes, pulled his knees up to his chest, wrapped his arms around them, and settled his chin on one of his knees. 

“Is it the same one?” Seishiro questioned as his eyes narrowed. 

Fai nodded. 

“And do you see it now?” the Seelie fae kept his tone calm and inquisitive--as though he didn’t damn well already know the answer. 

What really caught him off guard was Fai’s response. Kurogane didn’t know what kind of an answer he had been expecting—maybe a simple yes or no—definitely not for the changeling to start sobbing. 

What kind of fucking mind games was Seishiro playing? 

“I tried ignoring i—it—but he says he needs my help—” 

Seishiro didn’t miss a beat as he got up and sat back down on the sofa Fai was occupying, grabbing his chin with a precise motion.

Kurogane’s entire body tensed as a wave of pure hatred washed over him. 

The sheer disrespect of someone like Seishiro touching his  _ Anamchara  _ at all—never mind so intimately—was not forgivable. 

The Fae had strict rules that transcended Seelie or Unseelie lines, and Seishiro knew precisely what kind of shit he was trying to pull right now. 

“Have you been taking your medications then?” 

“Yes.” Fai wiped at his face with the sleeves of his hoodie, and the older fae leaned forward to snag the box of tissues off the low table that was between the couches and offered it to the blond. He repeated the motion with the tissues and blew his nose before continuing. “Every day. I promise.” 

Seishiro remained silent and just continued to watch Fai for a moment. Steel grey’s observed him, and he just continued to sniffle and swipe at his tears while the older man made up his mind as to whether or not to believe him. 

Dropping the blond’s chin, the older fae let out a low hum and eased back in his seat a bit. 

“I know you wouldn’t lie to me, Fai.” Seishiro’s tone was sweeter than the smile he pulled on his face. As a high court mage, he was a master of Seelie games, and there was nothing more the Seelie fae loved than to lure you into a sense of security before they fucked you over. 

Fai went in for another hug, and Seishiro was seemingly happy to accommodate as Fai continued to try and calm back down. 

_ Are you fucking kidding me? _ Was all Kurogane could think as he peeked through where the zipper had been left open 

This was bad. 

This was way worse then any of them had been expected. 

Seishiro had obviously gotten to Fai first and had totally earned his trust… Kurogane hadn’t seen Fai seek physical comfort from a single person in the past two weeks—he had been a total fucking zombi until now—

—All because Seishiro was the one convincing him that his own kind did not exist, and was pumping him full of those human drugs to likely dull his senses. Fai trusted that Seelie fucker’s word over his own  _ Anamchara _ —and Kurogane couldn’t contain the growl over how angry that made him. 

The changeling flinched as he recognized the sound and started in with a new round of waterworks, and the Seelie assassin hummed out a soothing sound as the blond remained stuck to his side. 

“Tell me all about it, Fai.” Seishiro ran a hand through the blond’s hair. “It’s been a rough week for you, hasn’t it?” 

You had to be fucking kidding him—what a fucking snake. 

“I’m exhausted, and no matter how much I sleep, I’m st—still tired.” Fai hiccuped at the end but sat up a bit to continue his explanation. The older Fae let him go but kept an arm thrown over the boy’s shoulders—fingers teasing at Fai’s shoulders. 

“—I missed the auditions for my school musical—this new thing following me is trying to kidnap me, and I just want a break...” 

Kidnap him? Kurogane was trying to save the idiot before he got murdered by the same man who had helped to brutally torture and murder his entire family and keep their people from getting wiped off the map. 

“I know how scary this is for you, Fai.” Seishiro pushed his glasses back up his nose before continuing. “We’ve talked about this. You just need to ignore them. Absolutely do not talk to them. Do not follow them anywhere… You remember, right?” 

“Yes…” Fai got a new tissue and stared at his backpack for a moment. “—it’s just… This one is so believable.” 

“Yes, but it would be hazardous for you to get confused when you are out alone, Fai. We have been through this over and over.” Seishiro snagged one of the tissues and helped to mop up the mess on the changeling’s face, and Kurogane wanted to know where he got the balls to touch what wasn’t his so intimately. 

Every time he said the prince’s name slowly and deliberately, Kurogane wanted to rip his windpipe out with his teeth. 

Never fucking mind the lies, the bastard was feeding his  _ Anamchara.  _

Kurogane was going to need to step up his game and get Fai to realize the truth sooner rather than later. Now that Seishiro was aware of Kurogane’s presence, he was likely going to try and separate the two of them—if he was willing to go to the extent of posing as a human physician, then there was no telling what elaborate hoax he had waiting to convince Fai into hiding. 

Since giving the idiot time to warm up to him and build trust wasn’t fucking working… he would either have to bring Kendappa and Sohma to Fai—or get the prince to them. They were both more gifted in Magic control then himself… and so they could maintain their true forms in the human world for short periods. 

Getting the idiot blond there was going to be the hard part. 

“I—I know.” Fai nodded his head and looked down at his hands. “I haven’t…” 

“Good boy—” Kurogane wrinkled his nose at that phrase as Seishiro continued with the mock soothing tone that Fai seemed to get genuine comfort from. “I know you always follow the rules, but I am concerned that this hallucination might be turning into full psychosis.” 

What the ever-loving FUCK. 

Psychosis? 

Fae were known to weave elaborate schemes, but this was some next-level shit… 

How the hell was Kurogane supposed to undo all the twisted lies for Fai in the limited amount of time they had before he turned 16? Never mind that every day they were away from the capital they were leaving it vulnerable to attacks—the second those barriers went down, everyone in the city was as good as dead. 

“Ok?” Fai sounded worried for the first time since they arrived, and Kurogane felt a bit of satisfaction of his hesitancy to just agree with whatever the Seelie fucker said. 

“That means you are getting worse… not better.” Seishiro sighed and shrugged, and anxiety watched over Fai’s face. Wrapping his arms around his stomach, he nodded slowly, and the older Fae continued. “That just means we might need to have you come to stay here in the hospital with me for a while.” 

“Oh.” That didn’t seem to make Fai seem any less anxious, and Kurogane really hoped he fucking protested. 

If Seishiro was going to try and take him now? 

There wasn’t shit Kurogane could do about it. He didn’t even have his sword, and in this weakened form, he would be crushed like a fucking bug by the powerful Seelie mage… 

Seishiro nodded and got to his feet—heading over to the desk, he pulled out a prescription pad and started to scribble something, and Fai watched quietly from the couch. When the Seelie fae returned, he handed the note to Fai, picked the backpack up off the floor that contained Kurogane, and handed it over to the blond. 

“Give that note to your mother and pack a few changes of clothing and your medications. I’ll have a room ready for you, and we will help you get rid better. Ok, Fai?” 

Fuck. 

Things just got urgent. 

Fai nodded and hugged the bag to his chest protectively—hugging Kurogane closely to his chest as well in the process. 

“Come back tomorrow. Try and leave your hallucination at home. Do not underestimate the power of shutting it in a closet or maybe just throwing your bag over the bridge into the river. You might just trick yourself into feeling better sooner rather than later.” 

Fai laughed at what he thought was a poor attempt at humor while Kurogane felt another hot wave of anger wash over him. 

Fuck that. 

Over his dead fucking body was he going to let Seishiro have his way with his  _ Anamchara. _

  
  



	6. Chapter 6

Fai was losing his mind. 

No. 

Actually, Fai would be willing to bet that he had in fact, lost it—because no sane person would be following there imaginary friend to his ‘house’ to meet there fellow ‘fairy’ brethren in the hopes of convincing himself that this was real—and said imaginary friend was going to rescue him from his shitty life. 

Batshit did not even begin to touch this level of crazy. 

Kurogane said he wasn’t going to leave him alone unless Fai met them though… So against his therapist's advice, he was following the red-eyed dog to meet them at their house—less than an hour after promising he wasn’t going to do precisely that. 

Not that you should have any expectations when it came to any of this—but Fai really wasn’t expecting to find himself on the nice side of town. 

Three buses and a hell of a walk later, and they were smack dab in the middle of the pearl district. Fai hadn't felt so out of place in a long time. They came to the opening of an alley, and he stopped dead in his tracks as his hallucination continued down between a bank and a restaurant that was way too expensive for Fai ever to afford. 

“What’s wrong?” Kurogane slowed to a stop and looked over his shoulder, and Fai couldn’t help the uncomfortable laugh that bubbled up his chest. 

“This is insane.” 

Like really really insane. 

The kind of insane that got you locked in the looney bin… Which was where his crazy ass was headed. Obviously, for his own good because this was as shady as it got. He was not going to find out what was at the end of that dark alley.

“Look, blondie—I get that you’re confused as fuck, but you said you’d gimme a shot.” Kurogane sighed and flopped down in a sitting position. 

Fai wasn’t sure why he had agreed. It all sounded like Seishiro was exactly right—he was losing it—there was no way that what Kurogane had been trying to tell him was real. 

Fairies weren’t real. Fai wasn’t some long lost Fairy Prince. His therapist had not suddenly become a magic assassin. 

He had lost it. 

“That was before you tried to lure me down a shady alley.” Fai huffed and reached into his backpack to pull out his phone.

He was going to call Seishiro to come pick him up and take him home before he got into big trouble. 

Ever patient, Kurogane huffed right back at him and sat down on the sidewalk. “Do you want to wait here while I go? I want you to meet someone.” 

Right… 

His proof that he was really real. 

Why the hell were they in the creepiest alley they had come across? 

No, thank you… 

Fai was about to apologize and excuse himself when they both heard a voice call from the end of the dark alley.

“Kurogane?”

Fai watched as a woman with the longest black hair he had ever seen jogged up the alleyway to them—a relieved smile on her face as she kneeled and scooped Kurogane into her arms and proceeded to check him over like an overprotective owner. 

“—where have you been? Do you have any idea how worried we’ve been?” Another woman emerged from the same shady alley to join in the fussing, and Fai was left just watching with slight disbelief as Kurogane started to wiggle and shout. 

They looked so… normal… 

Like plain old people.

Other than their almost unnatural beauty—Fai couldn’t tell them apart from any stranger on the street… so ether Kurogane was telling the truth—this was real—or he was fucking screwed. 

“Put me DOWN.” Kurogane pushed hard against the woman's chest and finally managed to flop his way out of her arms. He landed almost gracefully on the sidewalk and managed to look pretty intimidating for not even making it to their knees…

Well—at least Kuro was universal in his dislike of being unexpectedly picked up. 

“—I’ve been trying to do my stupid job,” Kurogane growled with his ears pinned back, then turned his glare to Fai, and all he could do was offer a sheepish smile as two sets of grey eyes settled on him, looking him up and down skeptically. “This idiot thinks I am a fucking hallucination, and we’re running out of time.” 

The woman exchanged a quick surprised look but didn’t miss a beat at that news. The one with a short black bob stepped forward and bowed slightly. “My name is Sohma. This is my  _ Anamchara _ —Kenddapa.” She gestured between them as though he was supposed to know what that meant, and Fai was left blinking dumbly. 

Was he hallucinating entirely new words now? 

“Anamchara?” He parroted back because that was the only thing he could think to say. 

“Kurogane hasn’t explained it yet, I see,” Kendappa spoke softly and with a relaxed smile on her face. “Would you like to come in for some tea? We can help fill in all the gaps for you, your highness.” 

What? 

Fai blinked slowly at the three of them.

Had he just heard that, right? 

Your Highness? 

Apparently, he had taken too long to answer because Kurogane moved to stand between the girls and the blond. “You’re freaking him out… Let’s go to one of those coffee houses. With other humans, so the moron stops thinking we’re going to brutally murder him or some shit.” 

Fai hadn’t realized he had been clenching his jaw until he sighed in relief at that suggestion. That sounded much safer than finding out what was at the end of the alley his imaginary friend had led him to. 

Kendappa and Sohma both nodded in agreement. 

“Let me just go lock up and grab my purse. We can go wherever you like. Our treat.” Sohma turned on her heel to rush back up the alleyway and out of sight. Kendappa started fussing over Kurogane’s well being once again—wanting to know if he had been eating healthy meals and taking good care of himself.

This all was… so normal… 

He more or less tuned out there bickering and shoved his phone back into his pocket. He was eager to see if anyone else would be able to see Kurogane’s friends… and then wondering what it meant if healthy people could see the woman, and the woman could see Kurogane. 

Sohma did not take long to return, and Fai quietly followed them up the street to one of the cafes that were still open after dark. They didn’t have to walk far at all… and soon enough, they were all seated in a booth next to the front window. 

To Fai’s utter shock, the waitress could not only see Fai himself—but she addressed both the woman directly and with bright smiles.

This was probably the definition of a mind fuck.

Maybe this was a dream? 

None of it was real, and he had just dreamed up the entire day while more or less sedated? 

More terrifyingly… Maybe Seishiro had been right, and Fai was so out of touch with reality that he was just… making it all up? 

The woman, the trip to the pearl, the cafe, and the waitress that could apparently see his hallucinations—or rather— two out of the three he had somehow managed to concoct? 

The waitress obviously couldn’t see Kurogane—usually, a dog like him wouldn’t be allowed into an establishment that serves food unless they were wearing a service dog vest. Still, no one was so much as looking at the ‘empty’ spot next to him in the booth. 

The waitress left them with water and menus, and Kendappa and Sohma gave him a moment to collect himself—Kurogane wasn’t so patient and bumped his small body against Fai’s to get his attention. 

“Told you I would prove ‘m real you dense bastard.” Kurogane huffed, and Kendappa scolded him softly for his bad language while Fai let out another nervous laugh. 

How else was he supposed to react to all of this? 

Who in their right mind would believe it after all… 

“I think we can all agree that it is a lot to take in…” Kendappa explained in a way that simultaneously scolded the cocky dog next to him—but Fai still didn’t know what to say. 

If they were really real… 

That meant that Kurogane was real as well right? Which meant that he might have to start believing the crazy stories Kurogane had been telling him about the existence of Fairies… and god… 

His mother… 

Kurogane had mentioned more than once that his mother was on her deathbed because she needed help with something that only Fai was able to help with… 

His mind was starting to spiral when a calm, gentle hand grasped his own—Kendappa waited for Fai to meet her eyes before smiling again. “It’s ok to take your time and process. Now you know. Just breathe and enjoy the meal, your Highness.” 

It took a few minutes for him to speak—but Fai turned his attention to Kurogane and asked what seemed like the most important question first… 

“Your mom?” 

Red eyes went wide for a moment before his ears went back. “I’ve been with you for two weeks… I haven’t gotten any news.” 

“Us either—We should get back sooner rather than later to try and give her some relief…” Sohma sipped her water. Her tone didn’t sound hopeful, but Kurogane didn’t seem too alarmed to hear that there had been no news, so Fai tried to relax a bit. 

“—but—” Kendappa added as she released Fai’s hand and sat back in her seat. “—I can contact one of the court mages tonight if you two like. We should let them know we have located you and that you are safe and sound, your highness.” 

Court mage? 

Your Highness?

Now there were Faires and Mages? 

Fai was again hit with the sudden urge to call for Seishiro… there was just no way that any of this could be real, right? Fairies didn’t exist, and Fai had long since been diagnosed with paranoid delusions… Which was the more rational answer to why all of this was happening. 

“We should move him to the otherworld tonight. The Seelie court sent Seishiro. We do not have the strength to fight him—even if it was three on one.” Kurogane shifted in the booth, and Fai felt his chest growing tight. 

No… No—Fai had known Seishiro ever since he had first entered foster care as a little kid. Through all the foster homes, all the schools, and all the bullies—Seishiro had always been there for him to talk to. 

The man was the closest thing to family as Fai had, and his brain was just playing a cruel joke on him… there was no way any of this was real. 

He had helped Fai get rid of every single one of his hallucinations. This one was just nasty. 

He needed to call Seishiro. 

He shouldn’t be there fuling his own psychosis by hearing these things out. 

“You’ve seen him?” Kendappa and Sohma both looked back at Kurogane with worried eyes, and the dog nodded and sighed. 

“That Seelie bastard is the reason that Fai is convinced we’re all part of some giant psychotic episode or something.” The three supposedly fairies continued to murmur between them, but Fai more or less tuned them out. 

His heart felt like it was beating a million miles an hour, and he wanted to get out of here. Discreetly pulling off his phone, Fai sent a quick text to Seishiro, giving him the address and asking for help. 

When the car got here, Fai would make a run for it… He didn’t know if Kurogane would be able to find his way back to his foster home or not—he didn’t even really care. He just needed a way before these—things—tried to kidnap him. 

“Anyways—so we’ve been over the whole changeling-it’s-not-safe-for-you-here-anymore thing… Fai just thinks we're all some sort of hallucination.” Kurogane bumped him again, and the blond nodded in agreement. 

“There… There is just now way that all of this is real…” 

“Well—I can’t say I blame you.” Kendappa reiterated. “—after all, Kurogane isn’t able to maintain a human life form here in the mortal realm.” 

“—And someone was impatient to meet his  _ Anamchara _ —” Sohma cut in and eyed the dog as she spoke. “—That he just ran off to find you without any sort of plan.” 

“This would probably have been much easier on you if he had just let one of us approach you first.” Kendappa finished with a sweet smile, and Kurogane growled in annoyance. 

Fai doubted he would be much more accepting of the news, even if he had heard it from the normal-looking ones first. That didn’t make it any more believable in his book—if anything… all of this was just making him feel even more insane. 

Checking his phone nervously, Fai nodded again as though accepting. 

“You have to excuse my cousin's bad manners, your Highness. He grew up knowing he was the one destined to bring the savior back to our people, and that is a tremendous honor for a young man like Kurogane… I can not blame him for getting so excited.” 

“Quit acting like I am some impulsive kid. My mission was to find the Prince, and I did exactly that.” Kurogane glared at both of the girls who only chuckled. 

“So, Your highness—”

“Just Fai, please.” Fai gently corrected Kendappa and received a bit of a surprised look in return. She did not protest, however, and continued. “So Fai—What do you think of your  _ Anamchara  _ so far?”

“ _ Anamchara…?”  _ He still didn’t know what that was. 

“The human equivalent of the fae word would be ‘Soul mates.’” Kurogane piped up after a few moments of silence. Fai choked on his waters as he processed what that meant—and coughs turned into more awkward laughing. 

Now he knew he was batty. 

Was this some sort of weird thing brought on by puberty? Was he really imagining himself a freaking dog as a soulmate? 

“It’s not quite the same thing—the priestesses will teach you all about this stupid shit when we get you back home safely. Right now, it’s not important.” 

“But you’re a dog. You’re not even real?” Fai stuttered out after he calmed the laughing fit. 

This was all just too much. 

There was just no way in hell. 

“You didn’t explain that ether?” Sohma quirked a brow at him, and Kurogane shook his head and seemed to be growing more and more annoyed by the minute. 

“The idiot has been so drugged up by that Seelie bastard that he might as well be a zombie. He’s tuned out half this conversation.” 

“Don’t worry, Fai—He is quite handsome in his true form. When we leave the otherworld, our magic is greatly decreased, and Kurogane has never been a fae with strong magical energies. He makes up for that with physical strength, though—just like his father.” Kendappa chuckled to herself at Kurogane’s annoyed huff. 

“When we cross back, I am sure you will be quite surprised—but he keeps his pretty eyes, I promise.” 


	7. Chapter 7

Fai was slicker than Kurogane ever would have guessed. 

They had all seen the inner turmoil start to boil over as Fai continued to take in more and more information, he had seen the slight tremors wracking the blond’s small body as he tried to maintain calm—and they all knew it was a lot. 

Blondie had had his entire world flipped on its head. He had gotten the cold hard proof, and now he had to sit down and sort it all. 

None of them expected for the Prince just to bolt from the restaurant. Kurogane had instantly chased after him, of course—he had had no intentions of letting Fai out of his site—but he was left watching like a fucking moron as his  _ Anamchara  _ climbed into Seishiro’s car and was driven away. 

By the time he had run all the way back to the other side of town where that pathetic hell hole Fai was forced to live in, he was soaking wet and shaking so bad he couldn’t get his teeth to stop chattering from the cold. 

The lights were out—even the blue light of the tv in the blond’s bedroom was not on… leading him to believe that Seishiro may not have given Fai the chance to come. Picking up on what seemed like a fresh scent from his  _ Anamchara  _ gave him hope though, and he headed towards the only tiny window that the basement room Fai used had. 

His breath fogged up the glass before he could see if the Prince was in bed—but Kuroange didn’t have time to fuck around. If Seishiro had already hidden him, they needed to get hot—there as so little time left before he turned 16. 

After scratching and pawing at the window for a few minutes, there was no sign of movement from the room. Without putting too much thought into it, Kurogane backed up a few feet and rammed into the window forehead first. 

He achieved the desired effect of shattering the glass pain—but he hadn't accounted for the nearly 7-foot drop down to the floor and cursed loudly as his soaking wet body hit the concrete floor hard—shards of glass cascading down around him. 

He smelled the moron before his eyes adjusted to the absence of light, and Kurogane didn’t bother to hide how fucking pissed he was.

There was no way even Fai could sleep through all of that noise, and it didn’t take long for him to locate the changeling sitting up at the head of the bed—hands clamped over his ears and squeezed tightly closed. 

“Stop it.” Kurogane jumped up onto the foot of the bed, not caring that he was soaking the sheets as he closed in on his  _ Anamchara.  _ “Look at me.” 

Fai didn’t open his eyes. He didn’t so much as twitch even when Kurogane started to growl. He could smell the fear coming off the changeling now in waves, and while up until this point, he had been trying not to manhandle or terrify the prince… 

Enough was fucking enough. 

“Look. At. Me.” Kurogane growled again—getting right into the Prince's personal space—jumping up to put both paws on the blond’s chest, and sloshing him with water as he did so. 

Fai flinched at the contact. Eyes shooting open in confusion at the sudden cold—cerulean blue eyes tried to take in everything at once. The broken glass—the bloody wet paw prints staining the concrete and the bedspread—the angry Fae in his face. 

“You’re bleeding…” Fai looked slightly horrified and more than a little startled—but now that he had the dense bastards attention—Kurogane backed up. 

He wasn’t any fucking calmer though and glared hard at Fai as he thought of what to say. Sure—the whole changeling thing was a pretty big mindfuck—but Seishiro was going to kill him the second he turned 16. 

If the Seelie court mages got there hands on Fai, they would murder him in cold blood, and the sooner the idiot accepted that the fucking better. 

“Could I be bleeding if I didn’t exist?” Kurogane posed the question, but rather than an answer, Fai simply grabbed one of his feet and assessed the damage. 

He was honestly so cold from running in the freezing rain that he didn’t even feel the glass he had gotten in his feet from breaking in. He fucking hated this form. 

This wasn’t the first time Fai had touched Kurogane—but like the last time he had hoisted him up—he felt a rush of magic burn up his arm as soon as they had made contact with each other and it didn’t stop until Fai let go again. 

He managed not to flail or pull away this time. Much easier to do when you were expecting the odd sensation—and probably also easier given he was numbed due to the cold. 

“Could I brake the stupid window if I wasn’t real?” Kurogane watched Fai’s face for any change in expression, but he just continued to look down at the bottom of the fae’s feet with concern. 

“Will you let me help you?” Fai finally chanced a peek up at Kurogane—he pinned his ears back and nodded. He didn’t expect to be picked up and cradled against Fai’s chest as he was carried upstairs to the bathroom—but he didn’t struggle. 

They sat in silence as Fai picked glass out of Kurogane’s paws, and he was trying to calm his anger and come up with anything else he could use to convince Fai. 

They didn’t know each other well at all… Kurogane had spent a week getting ignored by the blond—and another watching him sleep—and tonight was his last night to try and earn the Prince’s trust. 

Only he had tried everything he could think of, but Fai would rather cling on to this miserable existence then let Kurogane take him back to his people where he would be treated as he deserved. 

No pills being pushed down his throat stripping away everything that made Fai, Fai. No abusive foster mother abusing him or locking him in the basement when he showed signs of his Fae nature. No Seelie assassin posing as the only trustworthy adult in his life only to betray him when the time came. 

Kurogane was just as pissed off  _ for  _ Fai as he was  _ at  _ the idiot. 

That wasn’t how any of this changeling business was supposed to go. Taishakuten was supposed to have placed him someplace safe—with a human woman to cherish him until the Fae returned to collect their missing prince. He wasn’t supposed to be full of so much self-doubt that when he was actually holding his  _ Anamchara— _ his SoulMate—in his arms, he was so confused that he refused to believe they were real. 

All of that was terrible—and Kurogane knew that none of this was easy on Fai. He had done his best to be understanding, but dammit! 

At the same time, his mother was dying—literally wasting away trying to protect their people—Fai’s people—by doing the job Fai was  _ supposed  _ to be doing… And they were playing games like this? 

All Fai had to do was trust Kurogane, and he would keep the Prince safe. Kurogane would save his life. He would get Fai home and back to what was left of his family. Hell—Kurogane would bring him into his own home and share his own family with the orphaned Prince. 

All he had to do was try and trust Kurogane. 

Was it that fucking hard? Did he really have to go right back to sticking his head in the sand even after Kurogane had taken him to meet Kendappa and Sohma? What more proof could the Changeling need? 

It was close to an hour before either of them spoke to each other. Fai silently picked the glass from the fae’s fur and paws—and Kurogane tried to come up with anything that might actually help him save this fucker. 

“You’re still shivering…” Kurogane had not been expecting the blond to be the one to break the silence— but as soon as he was satisfied with his glass removal skills—he turned and headed for the shower before turning it on. 

“You left me on the other side of town in the freezing rain. I had to run all the way back over here.” 

“Let’s get you warmed up in the shower, ok?” Fai opened the small closet and pulled out a set of towels before throwing them over the door. The blond then went about sweeping up the bloodied glass he had left on the sink next to the fae and dumped it into the nearly overflowing trash bin. 

As shower sounded fucking amazing after two weeks stuck in this obnoxious form—but Kurogane was not going to be so easily distracted. Normally when Fai would shower or undress, he would try and give him his space. 

While he made sure to keep his line of sight above the waist—Kurogane continued to scowl in Fai’s general direction. Not that Fai seemed to mind—hell—given this puney form, he probably didn’t even fucking look upset. 

The same feeling of almost electrifying energy washed over him when Fai lifted him again and carried him into the shower. The warm water was hot, but Kurogane didn’t complain as the blond eased them both under the spray, and they just stayed like that for a while. 

The longer Fai held onto him—the more Kurogane felt his strength returning to him. His paws started to sting less and less, and the aching from where he had slammed his head against the glass was also slowly subsiding. 

This was all the proof that Kurogane needed that Fai was his  _ Anamchara.  _ The odd sensation he got whenever the prince would touch him was his untrained magic rushing forth to connect with Kurogane’s own. 

While there hadn't been any sort of magic cosmic connection between them yet proving that their souls were bound… 

This moment was more than enough to solidify Kurogane’s determination to save this idiot. 

He was his idiot now. 

“Do you feel that?” Kurogane asked—he had rested his snout in the crook of Fai’s neck and didn’t move to look at the changeling. 

Fai had one arm around Kurogane’s back and another hooked under his tail and hind legs as he swayed back and forth in the water, warming them both up. Fai gave a questioning humm, and Kurogane only repeated himself. 

“The wet dog feeling or something else?” Fai’s tone was joking, but Kurogane was not in the mood. 

While he had very little control over his small amount of magic in the human world—Kurogane cleared his mind and reached out with his own power to touch the electric energy that was dancing around his entire body. 

There was no way he could miss the way Fai’s entire body shivered, given the way they were pressed against each other—the prince damn near wiggled out of his own skin at the surprising sensation. 

“That—” Kurogane let go of his control and his magic. “That was all the proof I needed to believe that you are really my  _ Anamchara.  _ That leaving my family—my mother on her deathbed—was the right decision.” 

Fai’s arms tighten around Kurogane, and the blond let out a shaky breath. 

“You felt it, right?” The physical reaction to his magic had been undeniable—but Fai was pretty good at ignoring self-evident truths apparently, so he was going to make the moron admit it. 

Fai nodded, and Kurogane carefully chose his words for what was probably his last chance to actually get through to him. 

“Your eyes can see me—your nose can smell me—you can touch me and feel my touch—and you can hear me… Even your magic knows who I am, Fai—” Kurogane paused to lean back and get some eye contact. 

He hadn’t been expecting tears—but they didn’t deter him in the slightest. 

“—But you’re so stuck up in your head; you are totally ignoring what your body and instincts are telling you…” Fai went so far to mute his other senses, both instinctual and physical that he was drugged to the point that he couldn’t keep his eyes open for more than a few hours a day. 

Seishiro had him so confused and twisted up that he was being misled and didn’t even know it. 

A long silence fell between them, and Kurogane reluctantly waited it out. When the water started to turn cold, Fai wordlessly turned off the faucet and toweled them both off and moved them back downstairs. 

While usually, Kurogane wouldn’t tolerate being carried around like this—he could feel Fai’s magic wrapping around him. He hoped that he might start to understand what his energy was doing. 

He was set on the desk chair and watched as Fai dressed in dry pajamas before he stripped the wet blanket off before taking it over to the washing machine. Another blanket was pulled out of a closet upstairs, and Fai spread it over the mattress. 

The window was covered with plastic wrap and duct tape—and Fai wordlessly scooped Kurogane back up and climbed back into bed with him—keeping the fae against his torso as he covered them both up with a blanket. 

Just when he was convinced that Fai had fallen asleep—there was a whispered apology from the blond. 

“What are you sorry for?” 

“Ditching you at the cafe like that—” Fai didn’t open his eyes as he spoke, but Kurogane wiggled around to face him nonetheless. “—and for you having to break into the house… I honestly thought if I did what Seishiro told me to… that you would go away eventually…” 

“Is that your way of saying you believe me?” Kurogane spoke in an equally soft tone, and it took a moment—but Fai nodded his head once. 


	8. Chapter 8

Fai slept like the dead with Kurogane cuddled up next to him. 

He hadn’t decided what he was going to do in the morning—Seishiro was expecting him back at the clinic, and he was worried about the scolding he would receive for missing their appointment time. His therapist had no qualms about calling his foster mother and tattling on him—and that usually resulted in him being forced to cover bruises when he went to school.

He had been too tired to let his anxieties about having to make decisions keep him awake, though—the medications he was on still had him on his ass—and he had more or less fallen asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. 

It turned out that hadn’t been a smart move at all because Fai woke to the sound of deep growling and firm pressure on his chest. 

“Just try and fucking touch him and see what happens.” Fai recognized Kurogane’s voice right away and slowly peeled his eyes open to see the somewhat familiar dog crouching over him proactively with his teeth bared and his fur standing on end. 

Somewhat familiar, because Kurogane was bigger than Fai remembered…

It was definitely Kurogane, though, and he wasn’t happy. 

Fai followed the dog's line of sight and felt his stomach fall as his eyes settled on Seishiro. His therapist was standing in his doorway, looking as equally displeased at finding him still in bed. 

Or was it because of Kurogane? 

“Someone is awfully cocky.” Fai watched as Seishiro removed his glasses and tucked them into the breast pocket of his suit coat. 

Kurogane growled more loudly in response and hunched down over Fai just a little bit more, and all the blond could do was watch with wide eyes as his foggy brain tried to catch up with just what the hell was going on. 

Had Seishiro just spoken to Kurogane? 

“Fuck off.” Kurogane barked. “He’s not going anywhere with you.” 

“He is,” Seishiro smirked and took a step inside the room—pulling the door closed behind him. “Aren't you, Fai?” His therapist's tone became suddenly sweet, and Fai felt a cold shiver run down his spine as he shifted away as best he could with the wolf sized dog practically lying on top of him. 

Kurogane answered for him with an even more intimidating growl, and Fai was honestly shocked that Seishiro was gutsy enough to stare down something that could probably rip out his throat. 

“You Unseelie swine are pathetic—” Seishiro chuckled. “—the only soldier they could spare was a child warrior who cannot even maintain his form outside of the Otherworld.” 

What? 

Fai felt his heart skip a beat, and he repeated those words in his mind a few times, trying to process them. 

Shit. 

Kurogane really really really hadn’t been lying? 

“—you know that I hold all of the power here, mutt. We both know it. Hell, even our sweet little Fai knows it.” Seishiro took another step forward, Kurogane lunged, and Fai screamed. 

Everything happened so fast that he wasn’t sure what he was seeing—there was a flash of light followed by a sickening pop as Kurogane was thrown against the concrete wall hard. There were a few seconds where both he and Seishiro watched to see if he was going to get up—and the dog didn’t so much as twitch. 

As soon as he tried to scramble to the bottom of the bed and check on him, Seishiro threw out a hand and dragged him back up the bed by his hair, humming low in a scolding tone as he did so. 

Fai thrashed against his hold and screamed again, hands clawing at the bed in an attempt to pull himself free of the death grip. Seishiro’s hold didn’t budge, and as his panic started to boil over.

Fai didn’t know how he did it—but as panic took over, his skin started to burn, and the next thing he knew, Seishio had released his hold and was now kneeling and clutching at his bloodied face as he cursed. 

0o0o0

Kurogane blinked his eyes open slowly—confused as to why it was raining. Drops of warm water were hitting his nose and face, and as he raised an arm to scrub at his face, he was hit with a rush of white-hot pain. 

The high pitched whine he let out sounded pathetic even to his own ears, and he had to breathe through the waves of nausea as he tried to untense his muscles and bring himself a little relief. It was close to a minute before his hearing kicked back in—and Kurogane turned his ears towards the desperate voice calling his name. 

“Please wake up—” The voice whimpered, and everything came rushing back to him all at once. 

Fai!

Fai was in danger. 

Seishiro was going to take him if he didn’t—

A firm hand was placed on his head with enough force to keep him from sitting up. “Don’t you dare.” another familiar voice scolded. 

This one female… 

Sohma? 

Sohma hadn’t been there, right? 

A few deep breaths later and Kurogane peeled his eyes open and sure enough—there she was. Leaning over him with a very unamused scowl on her face as she held him in place. Not far behind her was his cousin—and while Kurogane couldn’t see his idiot—he could feel his anxious magic swirling all around the room in a dizzying haze. 

He however could not sense Seishio or any other Seelie Fae. 

“Kurogane?” Fai’s voice was raw and choked—just barely above a whisper, and he really wished he could crane his head back and see his  _ Anamchara. _

He had to swallow a few times to wet his mouth enough to speak—and even then, he only managed an unintelligible grumble. 

How the fuck had they gotten away from Seishiro? 

“He’s going to be ok, Fai,” Kendappa reassured the blond, and that was enough to start a new round of crying. 

A now familiar electric rush prickled over his skin as Fai ran a shaking hand gently down his side—somehow managing to avoid all of the sore spots. 

“—the reckless idiot here just needs a lot of rest... “ Sohma followed up and removed her hand. 

Kurogane closed his eyes again and tried to relax. 

At least they were all ok. 

That was all that mattered. 


	9. Chapter 9

Fai felt like his heart was beating a million miles an hour as he followed Kurogane back out of the shady alley in the pearl district… 

This was it. 

He was going to do it… Run away from home with a random dog that was supposed to be his  _ Anamchara.  _ A Soulmate. Someone that the universe had created just for him. 

Fai knew now it was real, but that didn’t make it any less screwed up. 

It had been a few weeks since he had almost gotten Kurogane killed—and the fae was done lying in bed and trying to recuperate. His front left leg was still more or less useless—but Kurogane swore that his true form would be more comfortable and so they were going to go back to the Otherworld. 

During the last few weeks he had learned a lot about Kurogane, and Fai had more or less gotten over the symptoms that came with stopping such heavy medications. All they had really done was lay in bed together and chat or watch old movies—and the entire time Kurogane had continued to grow rapidly and was now more or less the size of a small pony. 

Way too big for Fai to carry him around anymore—so big that the two of them barely fit in the twin size bed they had been sharing at the apartment Kendappa and Sohma rented in the pearl. Which wasn’t as bad as it sounded—he slept like a baby curled around Kurogane no matter how he had to contort to fit. 

Fai hadn’t gone back to school, he hadn’t gone back home, and he really hadn’t left the apartment for close to a month now. Now that Kurogane could put some weight on the broken leg—it was time for them to make their journey  _ home.  _

That was such a strange thing to think… 

He had a  _ home _ . 

Still no parents… but he at least now had a place he belonged. 

Fai’s 16th birthday had come and gone about a week ago, and it was best to flee the mortal realm before Seishrio was done licking his wounds—or any other of the Unseelie fae found where they were hiding. 

Kendappa and Sohma had gone a day ahead of them to find a safe place to camp on their way back to the capital city. They had packed almost everything they would need for the trip up for them—so this morning, all they had to do was grab their bags and hit the road. 

Kurogane led them to the old China town district in the dead of night, and of course, the ‘crossing point’ was in the downright creepiest part of the city… The old tunnels that led under Portland were creepy on a good day, and downright terrifying on the rest of the time. 

Never mind the homeless people that would make use of them to sleep… they were full of spiders and were probably super haunted. Not the place Fai wanted to go in the middle of the night day, let alone 2 in the morning. 

Kurogane didn’t seem to mind one bit and maintained his quick pace considering he was forced to use three out of his four legs, and he led the blonde through the winding, spider filled passageways with ease. 

It wasn’t until they came to an extra dark corridor that Kurogane told him to go ahead of him—and Fai was pushed through the black mist by an insistent nose in the small of his back until he was able to see an opening on the other side. 

All of a sudden, Fai was hit with a rush of fresh air as they reached the opening to the tunnel—and they were greeted with afternoon sun as they made it to the entrance. 

There was so much to take in—and Fai had to stomp down the instant reaction to try to believe that none of this was really real. He was sure he had never seen a more beautiful place in his entire life, and the overwhelming feeling of warmth that danced around him had him totally entranced as he took in the forest landscape that seemed to stretch out before them endlessly. 

Needless to say… Fai had forgotten entirely that Kurogane was just behind him—and he squawked in surprise as he felt a very human hand grab the lower part of his neck. Whipping his head around, Fai jumped again—this time actually managing to break free as he lost his balance and fell flat on his ass in front of the totally nude man standing behind him. 

Tall, board, and very handsome—Fai knew right away that this had to be Kurogane from the eyes alone, and the fae looked far too pleased with himself at earning that kind of reaction. 

“Who’s small now, blondie?” Kurogane smirked, and Fai felt his cheeks heating up as he tried to stutter out an apology. 

“Wh—Why are you naked?” Was the only thing he managed to spit out, and for the first time since he had met Kurogane—the fae barked out a laugh. 

“I was naked in my beast form, wasn’t I?” Kurogane shrugged and reached down to grab the bag Fai had slung over his shoulder, and he tried to fork it over without starting anywhere he shouldn’t. 

“I mean… I guess you’re right.” There had been no cute little doggy sweaters and definitely no undies or pants when Kurogane had been a dog… 

Fai just never would have guessed he would magically transform into someone so very handsome and so  _ so  _ very naked. 

“Didn’t mean to scare ya—I didn’t really take into account that this was going to happen.” Kurogane made quick work of getting dressed even with his left arm mostly out of commission. 

Fai picked himself up off his ass and dusted off his clothes and frowned at the lack of movement in his shoulder and felt a pang of now-familiar guilt starting to bubble up in his chest. 

It was his fault that Kurogane had been hurt… If only he had believed him sooner, Seishiro never would have hurt him so badly. Kendappa and Sohma had done their best to set the brake and keep Kurogane off his feet—but there had been no Fae heelers to take him too on the other side. 

Kurogane didn’t miss his stare—and as soon as he had gotten his shirt pulled over the dark bruising that even after a month still surrounded his shoulder—he closed the distance between them and flicked Fai right in the middle of his forehead. 

“Stop your worrying. You’re gonna need your energy for more important things.”

Fai raised both his hands up to his forehead and frowned at the taller Fae, and Kurogane followed up the flick by running a hand through his hair in a small gesture of comfort. While they had basically been glued to each other the last weeks—the familiar touch left him blushing. 

So this was really Kurogane? 

From fluffy puppy that could fit in the basket of his bicycle to a hunky man that totally intimidated him. Not because his energy or vibe had really changed… He just had the big body to back off that little dog attitude that Fai had first gotten attached to. 

His silence didn’t go unnoticed, and Kurogane dropped his hand and quirked a brow in question while Fai just continued to look him up and down. 

“What’s wrong?” 

Fai sucked in a deep breath and matched Kurogane’s expression and hummed softly. It wasn’t like he was upset or creeped out—he even sounded the same as before… His mind wasn’t even questioning the reality of his fury friend turning into a human—or human like being. 

That wasn’t it. 

It was more…

“I thought you said we were the same age?” Fai was actually older than Kurogane by almost half a year—so why the heck did he look so much older and… generally just bigger? 

“We are. All you royals are dainty as fuck—I’m from a warrior clan.” Kurogane shrugged. “Your looks don’t bother me, idiot.” 

Fai felt his cheeks heating up again, and he looked down at his feet and nodded. 

Kurogane’s looks didn’t bother him one bit… he was quite handsome actually. Not that Fai had ever really thought much about dating or having a significant other. He had always been the weird kid in school, so it wasn’t like anybody had been interested in him that way…Then, there was the fact that he was convinced he was suffering from paranoid hallucinations. 

Needless to say—Fai had no clue how to flirt or accept compliments. Rather than responding to the fae, he simply changed the subject. Kuro was easy to distract—all he had to do was start pointing at strange flowers or trees and asking about them, and they were soon walking along the path while the fae explained to him about the nature of their home. 

Fai preferred that. 

He wasn’t ready to worry about what Kurgane thought of him physically… not with the whole freaky soulmate aspect. 

They had talked a lot about the whole  _ Anamchara  _ thing. It had been one of the more abstract concepts Kurogane was trying to get the blond to wrap his head around—and there were a lot of things about it that scared him. 

With a little help from Kendappa and Sohma—Fai had learned to sense the way his magic responded to Kurogane’s and vice versa. It was obviously very different from how his magic reacted to anyone else's magic, and it was easy to track and watch as their energies became more and more intertwined. 

The more time they spent together—the more Fai’s magic had influenced Kurogane’s form—and the bigger he had gotten. 

Their growing connection was undeniable, but the whole  _ Anamchara  _ thing made him anxious in a way he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Kurogane had explained that not all  _ Anamchara  _ married or were romantically involved—but that was the most common outcome. 

It was easy to fall in love with the soul that completed your own after all, and that was what terrified Fai. 

His biggest worry was that he would only disappoint Kurogane. He was hesitant to get too dependent on the attention Kuro had been showering him with in case he decided he wanted someone other than Fai at his side. 

It was an issue for another time though. 

Right now, their priority was to return to Kurogane’s home and hopefully help his mother, and there would be so many things to see and learn along the way. Kurogane was going to introduce him to his family—he was going to teach Fai all about their heritage—and most importantly, he was going to teach Fai how to live. 

Learning how to flirt might be helpful down the road—but first, Fai needed to learn how to Fae. 

As they continued up the well-beaten path—surrounded by thick forest on either side—Fai decided that he was glad that Kurogane had finally gotten him to see the truth… 

He never wanted to doubt his  _ Anamchara  _ again. __

  
  


_ End.  _


End file.
